Brazilian Views and Mirada Paranaense // Official Selection

From October 7 to 15, everyone across Brazil will have the opportunity to discover Olhar de Cinema – Curitiba International Film Festival. Given the current situation in the country and around the world, with social distancing measures and closed cinemas, the 9^th edition of the event will be held online, enabling a new audience reach. Among the festival’s sections we present Brazilian Views, a special selection of national films that have stood out in recent festivals, and Mirada Paranaense, a selection of the contemporary production in the state of Paraná.

Festival directors Antônio Junior and Eugenia Castello spoke about their expectations for the new format and emphasized the positive side of reaching a new audience unable to attend the festival in-person.

“Of course, not being inside the actual theater creates a whole new relationship, but we can still take part in the festival, and we are trying to transpose the experience of our several in-person activities to the online universe”, explains Antônio. According to him, “Not much has changed in the Festival, the sections have pretty much remained intact and with the same amount of films. We’ll have to make some adjustments here and there, trim a few things that don’t make much sense online, but all other parallel activities such as workshops, seminars, and the Curitiba_Lab are maintained”.

“We understand that it’s an exceptional edition and both we and the audience will be experiencing an Olhar de Cinema like we’ve never seen before, but with the same care and affection with the selection, films, audience, and guests”, says Eugenia Castello. For her, “If, on the one hand, we think of a negative side, as in not being able to have something so characteristic of the Festival, which are our in-person meetings, the audience, and crowded rooms; on the other hand, we now have the opportunity to be known throughout Brazil”.

Brazilian View

Among the titles, feature and short films comprise a selection of what is most contemporary and bold in Brazilian cinema. The diversity of views and narratives is the highpoint of the section, which presents the Brazil/Portugal/Mozambique co-production “A Yellow Animal”, a new visual fable by Felipe Bragança, screened early this year at the Rotterdam Festival. The selection also includes the winner of the jury award at the 23^rd Tiradentes Festival “Blood Sings”, by Jorge Polo and Petrus Bairros, and still from the same Minas Gerais festival, the feature film “A Bruddah’s Mind”, which creates a narrative grounded on the principles of the Black Panthers.

Another highlight is the documentary “Fakir”, signed by Helena Ignez. A film that has stirred the most varied sensations wherever it passes, having been screened at the 52^nd Brasilia Film Festival, XV Panorama Coisa de Cinema, and forumdoc.bh, as well as other festival in Brazil and abroad.

Veteran Geraldo Sarno also makes his presence in our selection. The director of “Viramundo” (1965) screens his latest film, “Sertania” at Olhar de Cinema, a modernized return visit to the hinterlands of the sertão, the cultural world of cangaço, and the artistic dimension of cinema novo.

Ancestry is the theme in the two remaining titles in the section: “The Horse”, by Rafhael Barbosa and Werner Salles Bagetti and “Yãmĩyhex: The Women-Spirit”, from Associação Filmes de Quintal. While the latter looks to the past for indigenous mythology and tradition, the former employs dance to address the marks of the past.

The selection of short films is equally heedful of contemporary issues. The politics of blackness, lesbianism, and ancestralism come to light in the short films “Rooted”, by Juliana Nascimento and Gabriele Roza; “I Have Another Story to Tell”, by Mariana Campos; “Mãtãnãg, The Enchanted One”, by Shawari Maxacali and Charles Bicalho, “The White Death of the Black Wizard”, by Rodrigo Ribeiro, and “The Word Became Flesh”, by Ziel Karapotó.

Dystopias were not forgotten. Establishing a dialogue with the present day, we have the short film by Matheus Farias and Enock Carvalho “Unliveable”. In turn, Henrique Arruda’s “The Last Romantics of the World”, screened at the 17^th IndieLisboa, builds a bridge between the pre-apocalyptic future and the unknown.

Mirada Paranaense

In this 9^th edition of the event, eleven titles comprise the local section. Among them is the documentary feature “The Soul of Motion”, by Eduardo Baggio and Juslaine Abreu-Nogueira, which explores artistic creation and the construction of images other than cinema. Art is also the topic in “Exhumation of Art”, a short film by Maurício Ramos Marques.

An additional 9 short films make up the selection, which emphasizes racism and blackness as some of its central themes. Screened at the 23^rd Tiradentes Film Festival, “Following my Blood”, by Gabriel Borges, reorganizes images to build a new narrative. The documentary “Half Moon in Me”, by Dê Kelm and Débora Evellyn Olimpio, addresses Sickle Cell Disease, which mainly affects the Afro-descendant population.

The section also recounts the story of Enedina Alves Marques, the first black woman to graduate as an engineer in Brazil, in the short film “Her Against All Odds”, by Pedro Vigeta Lopes, Pâmela Regina Kath, Mickaelle Lima Souza, and Lívia Zanuni. Making use of an experimental language, “Skin Color”, by Larissa Barbosa, questions the oppressions endured by black women.

Another portrait of discrimination and bigotry in our society is in the documentary short film “We Will Be Heard”, by Larissa Nepomuceno, which explores the deaf feminist movement. Women, at different stages of their lives, are also the focus of the short films “Walking Through”, by Débora Zanatta, and “The Woman I Am”, by Nathália Tereza, the latter awarded the Kikito award for best actress for Cassia Damasceno in the most recent edition of the Gramado Festival.

The selection concludes with the sole animation in the section, “Napo”, Gustavo Ribeiro’s affectionate short film about memory, and “Cancha – Sunday is Soccer Day”, by Welyton Crestani about the power of amateur football in the neighborhood of Vila Verde.

About Olhar de Cinema

Olhar de Cinema seeks to value and celebrate independent cinema from all over the world. We present inventive, thematically devoted, and engaging aesthetic proposals ranging from contemporary concerns about the everyday micro universe of relationships to interpretations and stances on politics and the global economy.

The selection graces the audience with films that take risks through new uses and forms of the cinematographic language, open to experimentalism whilst conveying the ability to communicate with the audience.

See below the complete list of selected films for both sections:

BRAZILIAN VIEWS

FEATURE FILMS

A Yellow Animal (Brazil/Portugal/Mozambique, 2020, 115 min.), by Felipe Bragança
A Bruddah’s Mind (Brazil, 2020, 86 min.), by Déo Cardoso
Blood Sings (Brazil, 2020, 89 min.), by Jorge Polo and Petrus de Bairros
The Horse (Brazil, 2020, 85 min.), by Rafhael Barbosa and Werner Salles Bagetti
Fakir (Brazil, 2019, 92 min.), by Helena Ignez
Sertania (Brazil, 2019, 97 min.), by Geraldo Sarno
Yãmĩyhex: The Women-Spirit (Brazil, 2020, 76 min.), by Sueli Maxakali e Isael Maxakali

SHORT FILMS

Rooted (Brazil, 2019, 14 min.), by Juliana Nascimento and Gabriele Roza
Unliveable (Brazil, 2020, 20 min.), by Matheus Farias and Enock Carvalho
Mãtãnãg, The Enchanted One (Brazil, 2019, 14 min.), by Shawari Maxacali and Charles Bicalho
I Have Another Story to Tell (Brazil, 2019, 22 min.), by Mariana Campos
The White Death of the Black Wizard (Brazil, 2020, 10 min.), by Rodrigo Ribeiro
The Last Romantics of the World (Brazil, 2020, 23 min.), by Henrique Arruda
The Word Became Flesh (Brazil, 2019, 6 min.), by Ziel Karapotó

MIRADA PARANAENSE

FEATURE FILM

The Soul of Motion (Brazil, 2020, 66 min.), by Eduardo Baggio and Juslaine Abreu-Nogueira

SHORT FILMS

Her Against All Odds (Brazil, 2019, 10 min.), by Pedro Vigeta Lopes, Pâmela Regina Kath, Mickaelle Lima Souza, Lívia Zanuni
Walking Through (Brazil, 2020, 14 min.), by Débora Zanatta
Cancha – Sunday is Soccer Day (Brazil, 2020, 18 min.), by Welyton Crestani
Skin Color (Brazil, 2019, 3 min.), by Larissa Barbosa
Following my Blood (Brazil, 2019, 4 min.), by Gabriel Borges
Art Exhumation (Brazil, 2020, 14 min.), by Maurício Ramos Marques
Half Moon in Me (Brazil, 2019, 22 min.), by Dê Kelm and Débora Evellyn Olimpio
The Woman I am (Brazil, 2019, 15 min.), by Nathália Tereza
Napo (Brazil, 2020, 17 min.), by Gustavo Ribeiro
We Will Be Heard (Brazil, 2020, 13 min.), by Larissa Nepomuceno

EVENT
Olhar de Cinema – Curitiba International Film Festival
From 7 to 15 October

Open Access Passport

Until September 2, you may register for the Open Access Passport. Just fill out the form on the website woocommerce-959194-3529613.cloudwaysapps.com. Limited spots available. Applications will undergo a selection process based on diversity, focusing on the participation of people from different regions and social realities.